Modern flight deck displays for vehicles (such as aircraft or spacecraft) display a considerable amount of information, such as vehicle position, speed, altitude, navigation, target, and terrain information. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional AMM displays provide synthetic views of an airport environment that enhances flight crew position and situational awareness during both taxi operations and final approach. However, known techniques for displaying traffic symbology on 3D AMM displays suffer certain drawbacks. For example, displaying traffic symbology on a 3D AMM display clutters the displayed image. The degree of clutter and the complexity thereof depend on the airport size and the volume of traffic at any given time. Furthermore, human factors studies indicate that while navigating using 3D AMM, a pilot's attention becomes primarily occupied with the near field-of-view such that surrounding traffic at the more distant field-of-view (e.g., at the horizon) may not receive the same degree of attention.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to increase a pilot's situational awareness by providing an onboard avionics system and method that provides a flight crew with an improved graphical representation of the various features of an airport environment. It would further be desirable to provide an improved AMM that tags important relevant information concerning traffic (e.g., intent, location, aircraft type, airline, separation, threat level, etc.) while rendering traffic symbology. Such information will help bring an impending threat to a pilot's attention and determine corrective and/or preventative actions. It is still further desirable to provide an intuitive representation of traffic against which safe separation distance can be determined and maintained without becoming a threat. Other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.